Daikin pushes new refrigerant

Corporate April 16, 2014 00:00

By Patcharee Luenguthai

The Na

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Daikin Industries is encouraging early adoption, particularly in developing countries, of its next-generation R32 air-conditioner refrigerant, which does not harm the ozone layer or contribute to global warming.

Daikin Industries is encouraging early adoption, particularly in developing countries, of its next-generation R32 air-conditioner refrigerant, which does not harm the ozone layer or contribute to global warming.

After becoming the world’s first company to introduce an air-conditioner running on R32, the Urusara 7, in November 2012, Daikin is moving forward with its proactive campaign to promote the use of R32 by giving manufacturers worldwide free access to its basic patent.

Takayoshi Miki, president of Siam Daikin Sales, said consumers were not only concerned about protecting the environment, but also valued energy efficiency to lower their electricity costs.

"The biggest electrical expense of households and commercial facilities is air-conditioning. Thus the air-conditioning inverter with R32 will take the lead in energy-saving and environmental problem-solving."

The new refrigerant can reduce the environmental impact to just one-third that of conventional alternatives, so it is expected to be an ideal choice in the near future as recycling systems are put in place worldwide.

This year, Siam Daikin Sales has set a budget of Bt200 million to Bt300 million for promotional campaigns with a goal of at least 10-per-cent growth in sales to about Bt7 billion. From its second rank in the residential market behind Mitsubishi, Daikin has the ambitious goal to become the leader in three to five years.

It says Urusara 7 comes with outstanding functions for energy-saving and comfort. It is the first in the industry with a dehumidification system to reduce discomfort from unbalanced humidity within the comfort zone of 25 degrees Celsius and humidity of 55 per cent.

Its "swing" compressor generates more power with a smaller electricity draw. It helps save more than 33 per cent in energy compared with other air-conditioners.

Daikin was the first manufacturer to market a compact room air-conditioner with a swing compressor in 1995.

An intelligent eye is another feature offering an infrared sensor to detect human motion and the presence of users in the whole room. When people leave the room, the system will increase the temperature by 2 degrees, and if the sensor finds human motion again, the temperature will return to its original setting. That helps cut energy consumption by up to 30 per cent.

"Daikin continues to work towards the practical application of next-generation refrigerants. We continue to carry out research for other suitable uses of next generation refrigerants beyond air-conditioners," Miki said.

"According to the environmental action plan, Daikin targets reducing carbon-dioxide emissions by 30 million tonnes in emerging countries in fiscal 2015 through the widespread use of energy-saving products such as inverters."

Daikin has set a target of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from production in fiscal 2015 to just one-third of fiscal 2005 levels – a 67-per-cent improvement.

Established in Osaka, Japan, in 1924, Daikin has become the world’s leading air-conditioner company, with 207 subsidiaries worldwide.

It will strongly focus on R32 application and expand into commercial use and larger units for industry.

Under the Montreal Protocol, all hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) production must be completely phased out in industrialised countries by 2020 and developing countries by 2030.

Standard refrigerants have used such compounds.

In Japan, Daikin has fully changed residential air-conditioners to R32 and other manufacturers have also started to change over.

In Asia-Oceania countries, according to a decision of the United Nations Environment Programme, each country is making a concrete HCFC phase-out plan (HPMP) for submission to the UNEP.

For Thailand, the Multilateral Fund approved R32 for the air-conditioner industry and its plan to phase out HCFC by 2017 and change to R32.